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Wilson Benesch


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Does anyone here use Wilson Benesch speakers? I've ordered a pair of the Curves, which sounded to me much better than anything else in the same price range, but they don't seem to be very well known, either in the USA or in the UK where they are made.

 

If you've never heard of them, here is the web page:

 

http://www.wilson-benesch.com/

 

nigel[br]ALAC stored on Drobo -> Mac Mini -> iTunes -> Airport Express (1st gen) -> Monoprice toslink -> NAD M2 Direct Digital Amplifier -> Wilson Benesch Curve

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The have a small but dedicated following here in the UK.

 

Built up in Sheffield IIRC.

 

Eloise

 

Eloise

---

...in my opinion / experience...

While I agree "Everything may matter" working out what actually affects the sound is a trickier thing.

And I agree "Trust your ears" but equally don't allow them to fool you - trust them with a bit of skepticism.

keep your mind open... But mind your brain doesn't fall out.

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I think their big claim to fame initially was the implementation of Carbon Fibre in speaker cabinets, record decks and tone Arms, caused quite a stir at the time.

 

Trying to make sense of all the bits...MacMini/Amarra -> WavIO USB to I2S -> DDDAC 1794 NOS DAC -> Active XO ->Bass Amp Avondale NCC200s, Mid/Treble Amp Sugden Masterclass -> My Own Speakers

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I've used a pair of Chimeras for 7-8 years now. Interesting approach to speaker design. I've not heard any other 'conventional' speaker that I felt sounded massively better. One of their key strengths is the integration they achieve between the drivers. Perhaps not as seemless as full-range panel speakers (I have a pair of Quads), but pretty good.

 

My only real qualm is whether using carbon-fibre in the cabinet actually improves the SQ. You end up paying a lot of money for this... which perhaps could be better spent elsewhere.

 

Oh, and I've blown the mid-driver of the Chimeras a few times - they are a '2.5-way' design, so the mid-driver takes quite a beating.

 

Mani.

 

Main: SOtM sMS-200 -> Okto dac8PRO -> 6x Neurochrome 286 mono amps -> Tune Audio Anima horns + 2x Rotel RB-1590 amps -> 4 subs

Home Office: SOtM sMS-200 -> MOTU UltraLite-mk5 -> 6x Neurochrome 286 mono amps -> Impulse H2 speakers

Vinyl: Technics SP10 / London (Decca) Reference -> Trafomatic Luna -> RME ADI-2 Pro

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Carbon Fibre is pretty good material for speaker cabinets, incredibly strong, witness the recent antics of Mark Webber, and of course mouldable. I think the curved shape WB have used was pretty pioneering when it first came out and contributed a great deal to SQ.

 

That said in my 'semi pro' days of building XO's I did upgrade some components in a pair of WB's to silver Mundorf coils and some fancy caps - made a really big difference, so perhaps they could have spent the money there, or of course on more robust drive units!

 

That said they are unusually fine speakers.

 

 

 

Trying to make sense of all the bits...MacMini/Amarra -> WavIO USB to I2S -> DDDAC 1794 NOS DAC -> Active XO ->Bass Amp Avondale NCC200s, Mid/Treble Amp Sugden Masterclass -> My Own Speakers

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think you could say I'm quite a fan of WB. I owned a full 5 channel WB system up until the end of last year. They were to me the closest thing I had heard to perfection, but in a rather impulsive decision, I sold off all of my high-end gear in an attempt to assemble a more modestly priced system that I liked as much. Several speakers later (Canton, B&W, Dynaudio, and Audio Physic), and I'm going back to WB. An expensive detour for sure, but I'm glad to be back on track again.

 

Here's a link to a thread I started on the brand over on another forum.

 

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1077351

 

Feel free to stop by and contribute.

 

Cheers,[br] - Tim

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I've actually read that whole thread. After I heard the Wilson Benesch Curves at the dealer in San Francisco, I started researching the brand, as I hadn't come across them before, and I found your thread on AVSForum very useful.

 

nigel[br]ALAC stored on Drobo -> Mac Mini -> iTunes -> Airport Express (1st gen) -> Monoprice toslink -> NAD M2 Direct Digital Amplifier -> Wilson Benesch Curve

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just saw this thread and you may have them by now but my experience with them the last 3 years has been positive. They do a lot of things well and with an amp that takes control of them or an amp that has a known great synergy with them such as the DeHavilland 50A mono amps (see write ups on the last RMAF show) they are right up there for the price.

 

Due to cable budget constraints I am not bi-wiring them but if I had another run of the same speaker wire I would as that seems to optimize how the mid range performs.

 

Best of luck with your Curves and the rest of your system.

 

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The dealer just called me to let me know that my Wilson Benesch Curves have arrived, so I'll be picking them up on Sunday. I'm very excited!

 

Thanks for your comments. I'm a bit sceptical about the benefits of bi-wiring, but my dealer said he would let me borrow some recommended cables, so he obviously thinks I'm going to hear enough of an improvement to actually pay for them!

 

nigel[br]ALAC stored on Drobo -> Mac Mini -> iTunes -> Airport Express (1st gen) -> Monoprice toslink -> NAD M2 Direct Digital Amplifier -> Wilson Benesch Curve

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Excellent news Nigel! How long did it take for you to get them after you placed your order? I think it was right around 8-10 weeks for me (I live in Redmond, WA USA).

 

I just placed my order for a set of Trinity's, the Centre, and some ARCs earlier this week, so the wait begins.

 

As far as the cables, we all have to make our own decisions on stuff like this, but after numerous attempts, I've concluded that super-cables don't make enough of a difference for me.

 

Cheers,[br] - Tim

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Hi Tim,

 

I placed the order on August 29th, and the dealer (in San Francisco, CA) called me Wednesday, Oct 13th.

 

It might take a bit longer to manufacture your large order!

 

nigel[br]ALAC stored on Drobo -> Mac Mini -> iTunes -> Airport Express (1st gen) -> Monoprice toslink -> NAD M2 Direct Digital Amplifier -> Wilson Benesch Curve

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Is usually best so with your new speakers arriving one approach is to get them setup and run them in for awhile. Rather than going for new cables right away it may make sense to listen to the Curves, get to know them more, then after that it's easier to focus on optimizing the cabling aspects. Not to push any brand but I went to a single run of the Argento Organic reasonably priced (relatively anyway :) ) cables and the improvement over the previous biwired set of of Harmonic Technologies was well worth it. Not that the HT's were bad cables by any means. Point is you'll get to the place of addressing what's best for you and your system overall with many options available including whether to biwire or not. I'm happy with mine not...

 

Have fun Sunday!

 

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6 weeks is quite good. But maybe your right, it could be that the larger the order, the longer it takes. Be sure to report back on how you are getting along with your new toys. I'm guessing that you won't miss your KEFs too much. :) Though, you may have to work at placement a bit more with the WBs to get the bass to sound its best (as you do with any tower speaker).

 

Cheers,[br] - Tim

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just checking in to see how you are getting along with your new speakers.

 

Oh, and I was told that my order will ship out of the UK on Nov. 1st. I figure I should have them a couple of weeks later. If so, that is a bit shorter wait than you had. No complaints from me. :-)

 

Cheers,[br] - Tim

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They both look and sound gorgeous. They are everything I was hoping they would be, and more, even though I haven't finished the break- in period. I'll post a longer report when I have a chance.

 

nigel[br]ALAC stored on Drobo -> Mac Mini -> iTunes -> Airport Express (1st gen) -> Monoprice toslink -> NAD M2 Direct Digital Amplifier -> Wilson Benesch Curve

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Nigel -

 

That is great news. I can't say that the WBs changed much with break in. Only a few of the dozens of speakers I've owned really have. The WB's sound great out of the box and they keep sounding that way.

 

So you say that they are even better than you had expected. What stands out that prompts that reaction? Just curious to hear other peoples impressions.

 

Cheers,[br] - Tim

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  • 1 month later...

I was lucky enough to pick up a pair of ex-dem, current spec A.C.T. back in June of this year and have been utterly, utterly delighted with them.

 

Various members on another forum had been hugely disparaging about them, but having had them for 6 months I can only conclude that many of their comments where made without actually listening to them properly (or possibly at all!). Some accuse them of being harsh or clinical, but my experience is that they are very easy to live with and have very little 'character' of their own, which is something that pretty much all speakers tend to add quite a lot of.

 

Because of that, they don't hide flaws up-stream and a rough source and/or amp will sound just that. This possibly explains some people's views as (for commercial reasons linking the two companies) they are often heard being driven by Chord electronics, which themselves can be a but unforgiving.

 

As Mani says, one of their strong points is the may the drivers integrate so well. To that I'd add tremendous speed, transparency and bass extension for the size of cabinet.

 

Probably the best thing I can say is that they are the only speaker I've had which allowed me 'closure' over the fact that I had to sell my pair of Sonus Faber Extremas several years back. Until the WBs turned up, I had always been kicking myself for that decision, but now I'm fine with it. :-)

 

All the best[br]Steve.[br]ALAC stored on Drobo FS > Intel iMac > iTunes/Spotify/Slimserver > Modded SB3 > NAD M2 Digital Amplifier -> Wilson Benesch A.C.T.

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I recently replaced my Watt/Puppy 6 with a mint WB A.C.T and couldn't be happier. At first I missed the palpable "you are there" quality of the Watt/Puppies, and during the first few days WB seems a bit dull by comparison. But after living with it for a while they proved to me that they are way more transparent and lively. They are more layered, sophisticated but not laid back. They are also not picky with electronics, I tried several amps with them and all sounded excellent.

 

 

 

Mac Mini ? Weiss DAC202 ? ML 326s ? ML 532h ? Wilson Sophia3

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@ twelvebears - I could never understand the claims that the WBs are "clinical", well unless your reference point is something very heavily colored to the warm side of the spectrum. You want "harsh", try on a set of Focal Bes, you want "clinical" try Revel on for size. Even with a very modest front end that I had to use at the time I was auditioning the WB Discoveries, they were more natural sounding that either of those two speakers. The truth is, the WBs were one of the few audiophile grade speakers I've owned that didn't make complete mincemeat of lesser recordings, so they are anything but harsh or clinical to these ears.

 

@ seta - I'm sure that there was an adjustment period going from Watt Puppies to ACTs. The ACTs may not project out at you like the Watts, but I agree that there transparency and soundstaging are much better. When auditioning the WB Discovery against the Revel Studio 2's, my wife said, "they both sound great, but the WB's make it sound like the performers are real." That was the deal closer for me. :-)

 

But, I got the crazy idea in my head that I should scale back my sound system and go with something more modest, so I sold off the WBs. 11 months, and 4 sets of speakers later, I'm returning to WB. A set of Trinities, Centre and ARCs are in route to me and I should have them by the end of next week.

 

Cheers,[br] - Tim

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@Tim

 

The Revel (Studios 1) ain't clinical at all here.

There's simply no limit at how powerful you can play with these.

 

As for Focals, I do suggest you listen to the new Utopias. The sound is always a bit forward (as always with Focals) but this is nowhere close to harsh sounding.

 

Sinergy, sinergy...

 

Elp

 

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Elp - No argument from me about the Studio 1's, they are a completely different speaker than the Studio 2's. I didn't mean to lump all Revels into the clinical camp. I had a pair of Gem 1's on loan from a friend a few months ago and they are phenomenal speakers. From the mid-bass on up, much better texture and tone than the Studio2's. Exceptionally dynamic too.

 

As for "synergy" I agree to an extent, but I think the only thing that would have warmed up and smoothed over my former Focal 1037Bes enough to make them pleasing to my ears would have been some tubed electronics. I went through a good number of high-end SS electronics trying to tame them and nothing helped. So for me (with the exception of tubed gear) is always speakers first and fine tune with electronics, rather than trying to fix a problem with them.

 

Cheers,[br] - Tim

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@twelvebears

 

It seems we have the same brand of speakers, as well as the same digital amplifier. They make an awesome system!

 

nigel[br]ALAC stored on Drobo -> Mac Mini -> iTunes -> Airport Express (1st gen) -> Monoprice toslink -> NAD M2 Direct Digital Amplifier -> Wilson Benesch Curve

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While we are at this subject, I was choosing between WB DIscovery and Living Voice OBX-R2. They cannot sound any more different. The WB is a lot more energetic with amazing bass, the LV never stands out but is very natural sounding. Overall I thought the LV may be easier to live with in the long run.

 

I ended up getting the Living Voice and have been very happy with it. Although like my previous Harbeth Monitor 30s, the LV lacks in the dynamic dept so are not for rock fans.

 

Any other experience sharing with the Living Voice appreciated.

 

Macbook Pro/MacMini/dCS Debussy/Cambridge 650BD[br]Vitus Audio SS-010/Living Voice OBX-R2 Speakers/Ultrasone Edition 8 phones[br]Airport Express/Meridian AD88[br]

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